Marc Hauser

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Marc Hauser, 2008 (cropped) .jpg
Marc Hauser (2 from left) between Jon Meacham and Daniel Dennett (center) at the World Science Festival

Marc D. Hauser (born October 25, 1959 ) is an American evolutionary biologist . He researched the behavior of primates and cognition in animals. He taught at Harvard University for 18 years . In August 2010, Harvard found him responsible for eight cases of scientific misconduct . In July 2011, Hauser resigned from his professorship at Harvard University.

life and work

Hauser received his BS from Bucknell University and his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Hauser was professor and co-director of the Mind, Brain, and Behavior program at Harvard and director of the laboratory for cognitive evolution.

Hauser's research examined the processes and consequences of cognitive evolution, in particular the development of language, the nature of moral judgments, the development of mathematical representations, comparative studies of business-like decisions, preliminary stages of musical competence and the nature of event perception. One of his research projects was the internet-based Moral Sense Test in which participants are presented with a series of hypothetical moral dilemmas and are asked to assess each one.

After leaving Harvard University, Hauser devoted himself to promoting socially conspicuous young people (at-risk youth). He is a co-founder of Gamience , a company that develops computer programs that help young people learn self-control and other cognitive skills.

Prizes and awards

Hauser received the Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation , a Science Medal from the Collège de France and a Guggenheim Fellowship . He has published around 200 articles in science magazines and six books.

Scientific misconduct

In August 2010, an internal investigative commission at Harvard University found that Marc Hauser had been guilty of scientific misconduct in at least eight cases. According to the Harvard Commission of Inquiry, which had previously investigated internally for three years, the misconduct was solely with Hauser. Details of the nature of the scientific misconduct have not been made public. An article by Hauser in the journal Cognition has been withdrawn. Two other articles in the journals Proceedings of the Royal Society B and Science were also affected, it was initially said, but Hauser was able to repeat the experiments in both cases, which confirmed his original results. With effect from August 1, 2011, he resigned from Harvard University after the teaching staff of the Department of Psychology decided in a vote in February 2011 to exclude Hauser from teaching for the coming academic year. Michael D. Smith , the dean of the faculty of the humanities and social sciences, later confirmed in a letter that Hauser was no longer allowed to teach at the faculty.

Because Hauser had received government grants for his research, the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Research Integrity (ORI) also launched an investigation. A final statement by the ORI at the beginning of September 2012 confirmed the allegations against Hauser: He had been proven in six cases of “scientific misconduct”, including inventing data and manipulating the results of several experiments.

Hauser himself admitted "errors" to the journal Nature in September 2012, but again rejected the accusation of scientific fraud.

Publications (selection)

  • Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think , illustrated by Ted Dewan, Henry Holt, New York 2000
  • Moral Minds: How Nature Designed a Universal Sense of Right and Wrong , Harper Collins, / Ecco, New York 2006

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ PI Marc Hauser . In: wjh.harvard.edu . Archived from the original on August 16, 2010. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 23, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wjh.harvard.edu
  2. ↑ Harvard Dean Confirms Misconduct in Hauser Investigation ( Memento of the original dated August 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Science , Aug. 20, 2010 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / news.sciencemag.org
  3. ↑ a b Hauser resigns. In: Nature , Volume 475, No. 7357, 2011, p. 429.
    harvardmagazine.com of July 20, 2011: Marc Hauser Resigns.
    nytimes.com of July 20, 2011: Scientist Under Inquiry Resigns From Harvard.
  4. ^ A b Eugenie Samuel Reich: Misconduct ruling is silent on intent. Psychologist Marc Hauser admits errors but not fraud. In: Nature . Volume 489, No. 7415, 2012, pp. 189-190, doi: 10.1038 / 489189a
  5. ↑ Article in Harvard Magazine
  6. ^ Hauser MD, Weiss D, Marcus G: Rule learning by cotton-top tamarins . In: Cognition . 86, No. 1, November 2002, pp. B15-22. doi : 10.1016 / S0010-0277 (02) 00139-7 . PMID 12208654 .
  7. ↑ Hauser MD, Glynn D, Wood J: Rhesus monkeys correctly read the goal-relevant gestures of a human agent . In: Proc. Biol. Sci. . 274, No. 1620, August 2007, pp. 1913-8. doi : 10.1098 / rspb.2007.0586 . PMID 17540661 . PMC 2270939 (free full text).
  8. ↑ Wood JN, Glynn DD, Phillips BC, Hauser MD: The perception of rational, goal-directed action in nonhuman primates . In: Science . 317, No. 5843, September 2007, pp. 1402-5. doi : 10.1126 / science.1144663 . PMID 17823353 .
  9. ↑ Marc Hauser, Justin Wood: Replication of 'Rhesus monkeys correctly read the goal-relevant gestures of a human agent' . In: Proceedings of the Royal Society B . July 2010. doi : 10.1098 / rspb.2010.1441 . Retrieved August 26, 2010.
  10. ^ Justin N. Wood and Marc D. Hauser: Replication of "The Perception of Rational, Goal-Directed Action in Nonhuman Primates". Access to the PDF on sciencemag.org ; the repetition relates to the original work from Science , Volume 317, No. 5843, 2007, pp. 1402-1405, doi : 10.1126 / science.1144663
  11. ^ Gautam Kumar and Julia Ryan: Embattled Professor Marc Hauser Will Resign from Harvard . In: Harvard Crimson , July 19, 2011.
  12. ↑ Carolyn Y. Johnson: Embattled Harvard professor barred from teaching . In: The Boston Globe , April 21, 2011.
  13. ^ National Institutes of Health, September 10, 2012: Findings of Research Misconduct. Notice Number: NOT-OD-12-149.
  14. ^ Siri Carpenter: Government Sanctions Harvard Psychologist. In: Science. Volume 337, No. 6100, 2012, p. 1283, doi: 10.1126 / science.337.6100.1283
    sciencemag.org ( Memento of the original from September 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive )     Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated September 6, 2012: Harvard Psychology Researcher Committed Fraud, US Investigation Concludes. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / news.sciencemag.org
personal data
SURNAME Hauser, Marc
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hauser, Marc D.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American evolutionary biologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 25, 1959